COLLEGE FRESHMAN DROPOUT CHARACTERISTICS WERE IDENTIFIED ALONG WITH THOSE IDENTIFIABLE TRAITS OF DROPOUTS WHO RETURNED TO COLLEGE. COMPARISONS WERE ALSO MADE BETWEEN THESE STUDENTS WHO DO NOT COMPLETE THE FIRST SEMESTER AND THOSE WHO DO. THE BASIS OF COMPARISON WAS ENTRANCE AND ACHIEVEMENT TEST DATA, FAMILY HISTORY, AND HIGH SCHOOL ACADEMIC AND EXTRACURRICULAR RECORD. ALL 1,500 FRESHMEN IN THE STUDY TOOK EITHER THE AMERICAN COLLEGE TESTING PROGRAM OR THE SCHOLASTIC APTITUDE TEST AT THE TIME OF ENTRY. IT WAS FOUND THAT THE DROPOUT GROUP ON ALL TESTS WAS SIGNIFICANTLY LOWER THAN THE NONDROPOUTS. THE DROPOUT GROUP AS A WHOLE SHOWED LESS COLLEGE APTITUDE AND LOWER GENERAL ACHIEVEMENT THAN THE NONDROPOUT GROUP, BUT THE EXTENT OF OVERLAP BETWEEN SCORE DISTRIBUTIONS OF DROPOUTS AND NONDROPOUTS IS SUFFICIENT TO SUGGEST THAT SOMETHING MORE THAN TEST-MEASURED CHARACTERISTICS CONTRIBUTED TO DROPPING OUT OF COLLEGE. (GD)